


color me with your thoughts

by besitos



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, i'll add more tags as i keep (sporadically) updating, lapslock, mingyu and minghao love art and each other, sorry if you have a thing against lapslock... but this is how i like writing best
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 10:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15411258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/besitos/pseuds/besitos
Summary: xu minghao has always known two things for certain: that he is, eventually, going to become a successful model (and take the whole world by storm), and that he is going to marry his soulmate.// alternatively: minghao and mingyu dye each others souls with the colors of their respective thoughts





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> for my rhhbebés. 
> 
> i cannot put into words how much you all mean to me. this past year was one of immense change and growth, and luckily for me, i was able to have you at my side. the universe was kind to me when it decided to bless me with the presence of such beautiful souls. thank you for all the love and all the laughter. (and teaching me the beauty of gyuhao. i hope this fic does you all justice). 
> 
> besitos, isa 
> 
> //
> 
> this was initially going to be a mega 20k-ish fic, but since i don't know how to manage my time correctly, that was a flop. enjoy this multi-chaptered mess instead.

 

* * *

“the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”

― **marcus aurelius** , **meditations**

* * *

 

**| 10 |**

**yellow**

**optimism**

for as long as he can remember, xu minghao has always known two things for certain: that he is, eventually, going to become a successful model (and take the whole world by storm), and that he is going to marry his soulmate.

from the moment he learnt how to write, he began to keep a notebook on his personal experiences with soul-marks. his data comes from all the people he has ever come to interact with—from his parent’s adult friends who come over for dinners every so often, to the couples he just so happens to stumble across at the neighborhood park on his weekly bouts of people watching.

his most favorite soul-mark of all time most definitely is the one that belongs to the elderly couple who have lived down the street for his entire life. it’s safe to say that mr. and mrs. li have been married for much longer than his parents have been alive (his parents aren’t _that_ old, he will say, but they’re well past that age where they could still be considered “cool”), and minghao very firmly believes that it’s because of how strong their love is, not _just_ because they’re soulmates.

he also finds it way cool that their soul-mark happens to be the ability to hear each other's thoughts.

at first, like any other person, minghao found this more disturbing than interesting. he remembers wondering if that meant that they couldn’t keep secrets from each other. he also remembers wondering if it meant they got more fed up with each other than usual. one day, when his curiosity got the best of him, he blurted out the questions he so desperately wanted an answer to in between sips of the apple juice pouch mrs. li had given him.

he was about eight then, but attentive as always. he didn’t miss the look the li’s exchanged—a mix of humor, endearment, love, and a special something minghao wasn’t familiar with just yet.

“sweetie, this world we live in isn’t perfect. we aren’t perfect. our abilities have limits, as does everything else in this world.”

it wasn’t the answer minghao wanted, but in his mind he resolved that in time, he would know all the technicalities. he knew that if mrs. li had tried to explain further, all that would’ve resulted in a very confused eight year old boy.

it’s been two years since then, give or take a couple months. he continues to visit the li household religiously, just to update his soul-mark journal section that’s dedicated to the two of them. whenever he comes home from these visits, his dad likes to joke that if soulmates were picked by people, rather than be carefully selected by the universe, people would line up for miles to have minghao.

(minghao doesn't know if this is a compliment, or if this is a way to lightly poke fun at him. based on the way his mom elbows his father's stomach whenever this is said, it's probably the latter). 

he thinks of this as he listens to his mother read him _the little prince_. they started it last night but right now, minghao is too caught up in self-reflection to focus on the baobab seeds.

“what are you thinking about, baby?” minghao lets his mother run her fingers through his hair, lets himself relish in the calm that washes over him at the feeling.

“my soulmate.”

his mother laughs, a gentle sound, and it makes him cover his face with his hands in embarassment. “oh, honey. that’s something you don’t have to worry about for a while...”

minghao lets out an exaggerated sigh. “i know, mama. it’s just… i’ve been surrounded by soulmates my whole life. i can’t help but to _want_ one.”

his mom’s face softens. she leans down to kiss his forehead, and when she pulls away, her eyes are misty. “we’ll get there soon, hao. one step at a time, like your dad says, okay?”

“okay.” minghao snuggles deeper into his cocoon of blankets.

his mom slowly gets up off his bed. “i love you, hao. safe travels to dreamland tonight, okay?”

“i love you more.” the reply minghao gets from his mother is the sound of his bedroom door closing slowly behind her, followed by three short knocks on the door—their secret code.

smiling, minghao stares up at the glow-in-the-dark stars he and his mom haphazardly pasted on his ceiling. they’re starting to dull, some of them are even starting to peel off, and his smile slowly fades as he reminds himself that not everything is forever.

as he rolls over on his side, he hopes his soulmate will be _his_ forever.


	2. Chapter 2

**| 18 |**

**blue**

**confidence**

kim mingyu is a lot of things. most importantly, he’s handsome (at least, that's what all his lovesick admirers seem to say). he’s tall (it became quite the sight to see him running errands with his mother once he reached his adult height). and he believes in fate.

so when he wakes up on april 6th, the birthday he’s been looking forward to since (practically) forever, his excitement is about to burst out of his chest and paint his bedroom walls neon green. he walks over to his full-length mirror, and hurriedly combs his fingers, until he stops.

 _it’s not like my soulmate is going to be able to see me._ mingyu lets out a huff of impatience before turning around and flopping back onto his bed.

 _but what if they can?_ suddenly, mingyu finds himself mentally relaying a list of soul-marks, searching for one that could possibly allow him to be seen by his soulmate. when he hits the bottom of his list, he pulls out his laptop from under his blankets (he stayed up until two in the morning watching grey’s anatomy) and starts what will eventually become an hour long investigation on soul-marks.

“mingyu, are you up yet?” his mother’s voice cuts through the atmosphere of erratic research he’s spent the last hour crafting. he hurriedly snaps down the lid of his laptop before rushing over to open his door and flinging it open.

“hey mom, morning!”

his mom’s nose wrinkles ever so slightly, but the tone of her voice is teasing when she replies. “maybe you should brush your teeth before we start today’s birthday festivities.”

mingyu claps his hands over his mouth in an exaggerated manner, and simply nods in agreement before retreating into his room to get a towel. (he needs to shower. knowing his mom, she probably has the whole dining room decorated, with all the family members his mom can round up wearing party hats and looking absolutely _miserable_. he can’t possibly go downstairs looking like a shriveled banana).

he speeds up his usual morning routine so that he can be downstairs in about ten minutes, and as expected, the first thing his eyes lay on are the shockingly electric blue balloons that seem to be everywhere.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINGYU!”

mingyu laughs, taking in his surroundings: his mom’s spastic jazz hands, his dad’s ostentatious party hat, his sister’s bleary eyes and forced smile, his two youngest cousins who are fighting over who’s going to get the biggest strawberry… he could go on.

“wow, mom. you outdo yourself each and every  year… i wonder what’ll be in store next year.”

“next year you’ll be a university student, so don’t expect anything,” his mom jokes, disappearing into the kitchen.

mingyu shrugs and busies himself with greeting his visiting family members, cooing over his newborn cousin, eunkyung, until his mom appears carrying the first of the many platters of food that will (inevitably) follow.

for the remainder of the morning, there’s a constant flow of conversation and laughter. the sunlight that spills into the house through the tall windows illuminates the smile on mingyu’s face, and only further reminds him how lucky he is to have his family.

his dad’s eyes meet his from across the table as he shovels in another heaping mouthful as food, and winks.

“you ready?” his dad mouths.

it takes mingyu a while to swallow his food, but once he does, he shoots his dad a shaky thumbs up, blushing when his dad starts to laugh.

(said laughter interrupts his mother’s story about the droid dressed like a dementor that followed her home a few days ago. mingyu is certain everyone in the room has heard it at least twice, so he's not too bothered by the death glare she shoots him).   

\-----

“so... nothing?”

“we have to be patient, seokmin.” mingyu knows seokmin isn’t actively trying to annoy him, but in the last twenty minutes the other boy has asked over thirty times if mingyu has sensed anything… _different_. (the answer has been 'no' every. single. time).

the night air is cool, and every so often a light breeze picks up, gently ruffling the leaves of the trees in mingyu’s backyard. seokmin shudders and suddenly pulls on the blanket that covers the two of them, leaving mingyu exposed.

“blanket thief! give me my respective half back, you wet sock!”

seokmin giggles as he relents. “you’re so funny, mingyu. you never fail to come up with the silliest insults.”

“i’m a man of many talents, seokminnie. i thought you already knew this.”

“yeah, well, can they _really_ be considered talents when they're only known to you?”

“you got me there,” mingyu sighs.

the air mattress underneath them is uncomfortable, but mingyu thinks instead of how this is the last birthday he’ll be able to spend with seokmin like this. together, without a single care in the world. by this time next year, mingyu will be a freshman at seoul national university, if he wants to honor his parents’ wishes.

“don’t you ever worry?” mingyu suddenly blurts. he feels seokmin shift around beside him and press himself into mingyu’s side.

“about what? soulmate stuff?”

“no... not that. future stuff. like promises you’ve made in the past that you’re not so sure you can carry out now.”

“yeah, sure.” seokmin yawns. “actually, can we go back inside? i’m getting really sleepy and i don’t want to fall asleep out here.”

“okay.” mingyu can’t help but feel a little hurt over not being able to talk this out with his friend, but he understands. it’s been a long day, and he’s impressed that both of them have been able to hold up for so long.

the two boys manage to drag the air mattress inside mingyu’s living room, then go upstairs to brush their teeth and change into comfier clothing. (mingyu refuses to call them ‘pajamas’ when what he’s wearing isn’t a matching set. seokmin, on the other hand, doesn’t share such ideas, no matter how many times mingyu has told him).

later, as they lay on the air mattress once again, and the sound of seokmin’s soft breathing fills the living room, mingyu lets his mind wander. he didn’t find his soulmate today, but instead of this discouraging him, it only excites him. he thinks of how his soulmate won’t have to go through a day like this—when they wake up, they’ll have whatever soul-mark was chosen for them.

the thought of this makes mingyu's heart skip a beat. in anticipation, of course. 

“i’ll find out who you are… soon.” the promise sounds weak to his own ears, but he wills himself to believe just a little bit more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is honestly a filler chapter, and i'm lowkey regretting not publishing this as One Whole Monster Work. chapters will get lengthier as we progress towards the end ! i promise !!


End file.
